Community discusses plans for OMSP bike lanes, safety improvements

Community members and project sponsors gathered June 23 at the Oak Mountain State Park to discuss a potential $6 million project.

The project includes a total of 11.3 miles of bike lanes along State Park Road and John Findlay Drive. The bike lanes were previously discussed at a Dec. 10 public involvement meeting, and Thursday’s meeting was held as a way to show the connectivity between several proposed projects, said Trey Gauntt, chief engineer for the Shelby County Department of Development Services.

Community members were encouraged to leave their opinions on the project during the meeting. Gauntt said many cyclists from the community had shown up to the meeting, similar to the December public involvement meeting, and most reactions had been positive. Gordon Ladner, a cyclist from Hoover who sometimes rides at OMSP, said the bike lane project is a win-win for drivers and cyclists.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I’m all four it. It is a start on getting a focus on cycling safety.”

The complete project breaks up into three smaller projects — 1.9 miles of bike lanes along State Park Road, 7.4 miles of bike lanes on John Findlay Drive from State Park Road to the north trailhead in OMSP and along Terrace Drive and 2 miles on John Findlay Drive from the north trailhead to the park’s back gate.

There are also plans for a round-a-bout to replace the four-way stop at the intersection of County Road 35 /John Findlay Drive and State Park Road and adding a guardrail, pavement striping and widening the existing bridge over the Double Oak Lake spillway in the park.

Federal funds, Shelby County, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the City of Pelham are helping pay for the project. Federal funds will cover 80 percent of the project costs, bringing the local match to around $680,000 for DCNR,  $390,000 for the county and $106,000 for Pelham, which is only funding the project on State Park Road.

Wider, safer bike lanes are an amenity OMSP can advertise, Ladner said, which can help bring more people into the parks. It also makes bike travel safer for families, he said, and allows drivers and cyclists to co-exist on the road.

“There are a lot of areas in other parts of the country that are bike-friendly, and this is a step toward getting there,” he said.

Because constructing the 6-to-8-foot paved bike lanes while maintaining a 12-foot roadway would require obtaining more right of way along the roads, Gauntt said there has been some community concern over taking out trees along State Park Road.

The project would take out part of the tree tunnel, which community members have not been pleased about, Gauntt said. This change, however, would also help make the road safer.

“If somebody runs off the road, they’re right in contact with a tree,” Gauntt said of the current conditions.

Removing some trees, he said, allows a greater recovery time for drivers if they run off the main road.

The official deadline for community comments on the project is July 8, but there is a chance that deadline will be extended. After all of the comments have been gathered, Gauntt said the project sponsors will take three to four weeks to look at and address reasonable comments. If all goes well, Gauntt said they plan to complete plans for State Park Road by December 2016, acquire the right of way from January to June 2017 and go to bid in fall 2017. The projects along John Findlay Drive will likely go to bid in fall 2017 and spring 2017.

Comments or concerns can be submitted to:

DeJarvis Leonard, Region Engineer

East Central Region

P.O. Box 2745

Birmingham, Alabama 35202

ATTN: Sandra Bonner